WBNS wins award for election coverage

WBNS-TV (Channel 10) will receive the 2013 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism for its voter-education efforts preceding last year's primary and general elections.

The Columbus Dispatch

WBNS-TV (Channel 10) will receive the 2013 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism for its voter-education efforts preceding last year's primary and general elections.

"It is important for TV stations to be engaged with their citizens," the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, which has administered the awards since 2000, said in announcing this year's honorees.

"These efforts should be celebrated."

The competition's nine-judge panel, chaired by Annenberg Director Geneva Overholser, said it was particularly impressed with the interactive voter guide that 10TV presented in partnership with The Dispatch and ThisWeek Community News. All three are owned by The Dispatch Printing Company.

The judges also cited 10TV's "Show You Care & Vote" bus tour, which registered voters on college campuses across the state.

"We are proud to receive an honor associated with one of our country's most-trusted journalists," said Elbert Tucker, the station's news director. "The 10TV team put an incredible amount of work into political coverage during 2012. Our mission was to be a strong resource for Ohio voters."

The list of 2013 Cronkite winners also included Tom Foreman of CNN; Jonathan Karl and Martha Raddatz of ABC News; and BET and Univision, which shared top honors in national network programming.

The awards presentation will be on April 19 at the National Press Club in Washington.